Improvement in portable closets or commodes



H. A. GLUM. Portable Closet or Gommode No. 210,917. Patented Dec 17,1878.

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UNITED STATES PATENT,

HENRY A. CLUM, OF ELMIR-A, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN PORTABLE CLOSETS OR COMMODES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 210,917, dated December 17, 1878; application filed December 4, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY A. CLUM, of Elmira, in the State of New York, have invented a Disguised Portable Closet or Gommode for Hospital and Ordinary Nursery Uses, of which the following is a specification:

The object of my invention is to furnish a complete portable water-closet or commode, especially adapted to hospital and nursery uses, that shall be free from the objections of offensive odors when in use, and that can be manipulated with less inconvenience from escaping offensive gases than any known to me now in use, and that when suitably upholstered forms a convenient ottoman-stool, completely disguising its real character, thus doin g away with the cumbrous earth-closets and offensive chamber-crockery now in use.

Figure l is a sectional View of my watercloset. Fig. 2 is a plan of the seatof the same. Fig. 3 is a sectional View of the receptacle, pail, or can, showing the cleansing operation of the water during the process of emptying the same after usin All reference-letters refer to the same part in all the figures.

A is the lid or auxiliary seat, suitably upholstered, and hinged at a a. B is the top, made of wood or other suitable material, and contains the seat 0, hinged at c, and which may be raised for the purpose of removing the receptacle, can, or pail, and which has the opening 1). E is the frame of the closet, in form preferably an inverted truncated cone, made of any material, sheet iron preferred, supporting B, and resting upon the annular base F. G is a movable tray, made of metal or other material, provided with an annular chamber, g, to contain any suitable disinfectant. The inner wall of said chamber surrounds the pail or receptacle, and secures it in its proper position. H is a can or pail, used as a receptacle, made of copper or other suitable material, resting upon the tray G. The can or receptacle His provided with a movable cover, J, fitting the orifice D in the seat 0, and removable through said orifice, and a spout, K, covered by a valve, k.

A perforated sheet of metal, L, is fitted in the interior of the can, extending from the top diagonally to near the bottom.

Partition M, not perforated throughout its entire surface, but provided at its lower end with apertures, extends diagonally upward about two-thirds of the height of the pail to form the auxiliary water-chamber 1 A curtain, of any suit-able material, N, fastened to the periphery of B, extends to the base I for the purpose of concealment.

- The frame E may be made of any desirable shape.

0 is a hinged step, affixed to the front of E, which may be depressed to afford a footrest for the convenience of children when using the closet.

Operation: When the closet is used the up.-

holstered lid A is lifted and permitted to rest upon its hinges a a, thus serving as a backrest when required. Cover J is then removed, opening the receptacle, partly filled with water. The upper edge of opening D is nearly or quite in cont-act with the individual using the closet, thus practically closing up the receptacle, there being no open chamber to discharge fetid odor to mingle with and poison the surrounding air.

The fumes of the disinfectant placed in the annular chamber G, arising around the pail or receptacle to its opening D, disinfect and deodorize what little offensive gas may escape while the cover of the receptacle is being replaced, and the lid A being let down completely shuts oif any communication with the interior of the receptacle 0.

The obj ectof the auxiliary chamber 1? in the pail or receptacle, Figs. 1 and 3, is to hold clean water for rinsing, it being supplied from the receptacle'chamber Q, when that is filled,

the water running through the perforated plate' L and through small apertures in the lower edge of plate M, at or near m. The water, having established its level soon after filling, has little or no communication between the two chambers.

The water in chamber Q only becomes soiled in the use of the commode. That in chamber 1? remains clean and unsoiled for rinsin The water in the closet is intended to act as a submergent, not as an absorbent.

In emptying the pail or receptacle, the soiled water is first discharged. The clean water in chamber P is then poured over and upon per forated plate' L, and is divided into many small streams over the entire inner surface of chamber Q, rinsing it out. This arrangement prevents the nurse or servant from inhaling what may be damaging odors, especially while attending the sick.

I claim as my invention 1. An incased portable commode-closet, in ottoman form, upholstered upon its top or auxiliary seat, (which forms a support when in use,) and draped by a surrounding depending curtain.

2. A pail or receptacle provided with a flange upon its top, which projects into the Eeat of the closet, as and for the purpose speci- 3. A pail or receptacle provided with an auxiliary Water-chamber, separated from the main chamber, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. A pail or receptacle provided with aperforated partition and an auxiliary water-chamber, as and for the purposes set forth.

5. The pail or receptacle H, provided with the perforated partition L and the partition M, to form a separate Water-chamber, substantially as set forth.

6. The tray G, vprovided with the disinfecting-chamber g, in combination with the pail or receptacle, substantially as described.

7. The pail or receptacle H, having an upwardly-projecting flange, which surrounds the opening in the top of the pail, and provided with a cover, removable through the opening in the closet-seat, as and for the purpose described.

HENRY A. OLUM. Witnesses:

Z. T. CARPENTER, A. E. BooNE. 

